Mark Dowd | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/mark-dowd
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What lies behind religious homophobia | Mark Dowdhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/26/anti-gay-rhetoric-of-religious-leaders
The anti-gay rhetoric of religious leaders like Cardinal Keith O'Brien often masks deep-seated fears about their own sexuality<p>I approached a director at Channel&nbsp;4 back in 2000 with a proposal for a documentary on homosexuality and the Roman Catholic church. I had a simple pitch. &quot;I want to show why my church is so anti-gay.&quot;</p><p>&quot;And why is your church so anti-gay?,&quot; came back the obvious question. &quot;Because it is so gay,&quot; I replied.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/26/anti-gay-rhetoric-of-religious-leaders">Continue reading...</a>LGBT rightsCatholicismSexualityWorld newsGay marriageLife and styleSocietyReligionChristianityTue, 26 Feb 2013 08:00:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/26/anti-gay-rhetoric-of-religious-leadersJames Fraser / Rex Features/James Fraser/RexKeith O'Brien, who resigned this week after accusations made by four men, engaged in ‘high-octane language on same-sex attraction'. Photograph: James Fraser/RexJames Fraser / Rex Features/James Fraser/RexCardinal Keith O'Brien, who resigned this week after accusations made by four men, engaged in 'high-octane language on same sex attraction'. Photograph: James Fraser / Rex Features/James Fraser/RexMark Dowd2013-02-26T08:00:05ZPraying may just give athletes the edge | Mark Dowdhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/may/16/praying-sport-focus-football
Even if there's no god in the business of helping one side to win, believing that there is may help focus sporting minds<p></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/may/16/praying-sport-focus-football">Continue reading...</a>SportFootballReligionWorld newsMon, 16 May 2011 14:38:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/may/16/praying-sport-focus-footballTom Jenkins/GuardianJavier Hernandez prays just before the start of Manchester United's match against Chelsea. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the GuardianTom Jenkins/GuardianJavier Hernandez prays just before the start of Manchester United's match against Chelsea. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the GuardianMark Dowd2011-05-16T14:38:56ZThe Pope's visit | Mark Dowdhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/06/religion-fear-popebenedict-visit
Pope Benedict XVI's state visit this year will provide a terrible opportunity for posturing triumphalism from right-wing Catholics<p>&quot;The Pope is coming! The Pope is coming!&quot; cry excited Catholics and this time, with no tricky Falklands diplomacy to navigate around, it is to be an official visit. In early autumn, Benedict XVI will be accorded all the pomp normally associated with a head of state. So why am I already full of fear and apprehension? After all, in May 1982, when John Paul II came to these shores, I got up at 4am, donned my white Dominican habit (yes I was a friar for a brief period from 1981 to 1983), and joined five thousand other religious in Roehampton. We sang. We cheered and waved our wee yellow and white flags with the Holy See's coat of arms on them. The Popemobile swept past within an inch or two. John Paul. What a face! He positively seemed to look through me. He smiled. I felt reduced to total insignificance, yet touched by something from beyond. Only the Polish Pope has ever had that kind of effect on me.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/06/religion-fear-popebenedict-visit">Continue reading...</a>ReligionCatholicismPope Benedict XVIChristianityThe papacyWed, 06 Jan 2010 11:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/06/religion-fear-popebenedict-visitMark Dowd2010-01-06T11:00:01ZAll aboard the ARC | Mark Dowdhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/13/arc-windsor-environment-religion
Last week's meeting of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation was more than just grandstanding. The commitments made by faith groups were impressive<p>A thundering US Baptist choir in dazzling golden gowns belting out &quot;All Creatures of Our God and King&quot;. Blink. Daoist monks from China chanting rhythmically and &quot;calling the world back into balance.&quot; Blink. Shinto priests and an Arab-Jewish ensemble in respective dances to creation followed by a solitary Imam picked out of the darkness by a piercing spotlight. He intoned Surah 55:3-9 of the Qur'an: &quot;Keep the balance with equity, and fall not short in it.&quot;</p><p>These were just some of the scenes in the state apartments of Windsor Castle last week enjoyed by the Duke of Edinburgh, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon and more than 250 delegates to the &quot;Many Heavens One Earth&quot; gathering organised by the UN-funded <a href="http://www.arcworld.org/" title="Alliance of Religions and Conservation">Alliance of Religions and Conservation</a>. It's easy to lampoon interfaith gatherings. They are often well-meaning but vacuous ensembles of robed dignitaries sipping cinnamon tea. The shared statements often amount to nothing more than a hybrid Esperanto of platitudes. And after the Windsor three-day event, it's true I did hear one or two muttering voices of dissent: &quot;Isn't it an own goal flying people here for this? Think of the carbon emissions.&quot; (You can bet your bottom dollar that the Daily Mail are already at work on the collective carbon footprint of the UN Climate Summit starting on 7 December in Copenhagen.)</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/13/arc-windsor-environment-religion">Continue reading...</a>ReligionEnvironmentClimate changeConservationFri, 13 Nov 2009 16:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/13/arc-windsor-environment-religionby Tim Ockenden/PAWindsor castleMark Dowd2009-11-13T16:00:00ZFear is not the best motivator | Mark Dowdhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/sep/09/climate-change-operation-noah
It's easy enough to scare people about climate change. But there are other ways to capture imaginations and create momentum<p>The chances are, if you are reading this, that you might also have seen either <a href="http://www.ageofstupid.net/" title="The Age of Stupid">The Age of Stupid</a> or <a href="http://www.climatecrisis.net/" title="An Inconvenient Truth">An Inconvenient Truth</a>. To those who fight to get climate change to the top of the agenda, these two movies are essential campaigning tools. Now I don't dispute their power and Messrs Gore and Postlethwaite are to be credited for sticking their heads above the parapet, but I have a problem with them: they left me feeling numb and overwhelmed. Gore stacks up the evidence of the momentum towards dangerous tipping points so effectively that by the time he gets on to &quot;solutions&quot; very near the end of his hundred minute presentation, you feel you are about to be demolished by a juggernaut.</p><p>I had a similar reaction when I first saw The Age of Stupid. At the end of a packed screening earlier in the year, one of my <a href="http://www.operationnoah.org/" title="Operation Noah">Operation Noah</a> colleagues stood up and bluntly asked the audience: &quot;So having seen that, who wants to get involved in campaigning?&quot; There was a chilled and muted response. It may be me, but a very large amount of the film left me thinking that all the images of flooding, drought and destruction which Postlethwaite uncovers in his film archives are inevitable. From his futuristic vantage point of 2055, he shows a world that, in a mere 40 to 50 years, has gone to the dogs. And in a world where denial is still very much a factor, it's amazing how quickly people switch from denying the scientific evidence for human-induced global warming, to embracing the view that it's all too late and we're all doomed. Of course, that &quot;flip&quot; still allows you to go on behaving as before. &quot;Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.&quot;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/sep/09/climate-change-operation-noah">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentClimate change10:10 climate change campaignReligionChristianityWed, 09 Sep 2009 14:45:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/sep/09/climate-change-operation-noahFilm still/PRAl Gore in a still from 'An Inconvenient Truth'Film still/PRAl Gore in a still from 'An Inconvenient Truth'Mark Dowd2009-09-09T14:45:00Z